The IPSO Alliance announced the successful interoperability of two new elements of the IPv6 protocol for small, resource-constrained embedded devices known as “smart objects.”

The IPSO Alliance announced the successful interoperability of two new elements of the IPv6 protocol for small, resource-constrained embedded devices known as “smart objects.” The interoperability of RPL-the emerging, IETF-specified, IPv6 routing protocol for low power networks-and 6LoWPAN-HC-a header compression format for highly efficient IPv6 packet delivery over IEEE 802.15.4 low-power wireless personal area networks (WPAN)-are key to connecting smart objects such as meters, sensors or control devices, and smart appliances over the Internet.

“The interoperability of these two elements, running on top of three different media, brings us another step closer to reaching our goal of creating IP-based smart objects,” said Geoff Mulligan, chairman of the IPSO Alliance.

Both RPL and 6LoWPAN-HC are currently being standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and are large components of the smart grid infrastructure that includes advanced metering and energy monitoring. The industry demand to employ Internet Protocol for smart objects has led to growing adoption of the protocols. For more information, visit www.ipso-alliance.org.